Singapore team expresses interest in infrastructure projects

LUCKNOW: In signs that the state's government initiatives to attract industry may be yielding results, a government-cum-business delegation from Singapore has evinced interest in investing in infrastructure projects, the proposed IT City at Lucknow, Trans-Ganga project near Kanpur, solid waste management, solar power, road and the proposed Greater Noida Night Safari, among others. In this context, a team of key officials of 'International Enterprise Singapore' (IES), and Changi Airport Group met special secretary, industrial development, Kaushal Raj Sharma on Friday.

The Singapore delegation comprised of Wong Ken Mun, director, IES Mumbai and Amita Mehta, director, IES Delhi, along with Phau Hui Hoon, senior manager of Changi airport group, Singapore. Following a detailed discussion with Sharma about investment avenues for Singaporean firms, Mun said the International Enterprise Singapore was a government agency driving Singapore's external economy as well as promoting overseas growth of Singapore-based companies and international trade. He said, "In our first visit to Lucknow, we are on a fact-finding mission to explore investment opportunities for Singapore companies in Uttar Pradesh."

Sharma informed the delegation about various infrastructure development projects coming up on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model that are also open for bidding at present. Promising to return with specific investment proposals, the visiting delegation also evinced interest in the proposed night safari at Greater Noida, the Agra-Lucknow Expressway, the IT City and international airport at Agra, among other projects.

Northern parts of Chennai have long been considered the backwater region of the city. But the residential price index (residex) put out by the National Housing Bank (NHB) shows that Ayanavaram, Kolathur and Purasawalkam have seen the maximum appreciation in residential prices in the last six years across the country.

Plot holders are latching on to the state’s move to offer its leased lands on occupancy basis. While 22 plot holders in the suburbs have opted for the option, only six have chosen the other preference that involves renewal of lease by paying revised lease rents.

AT Group CMDPradip Sethi, who allegedly cheated thousands of investors, was taken for a ride by land sharks, who made him buy land at inflated prices. Sethi, who had planned to return investors' heavy interests by selling it at higher rates, failed to dispose it after realizing the real price of the property, police said.

Investment demand for real estate in the metros, rather than the demand from those who want to stay in the house they are buying, seems to have outpaced the rise in home prices in these cities compared to in the smaller ones. And this faster pace of rise in real estate prices in the metros may eventually turn out to be its own undoing, a report by Japanese financial services firm Nomura pointed out.

It's an inevitable domino effect. The local government's civic apathy is robbing Puducherry of its real estate sheen. According to sources, the attraction of the city's famed White Town or French quarter - whose limited residential properties have always attracted both well-heeled locals and expats - is wearing off thanks to mounting garbage, litter-lined streets and hand-cart hawkers.